


A Not So Delicate Flower

by NamelesslyNightlock, STARSdidathing



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Loki (Marvel), Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluff without Plot, Fluffy Ending, Gift Fic, Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, M/M, Oblivious Tony Stark, Prompt Fill, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Trickster Loki (Marvel), Wordcount: 1.000-5.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:33:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22971055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NamelesslyNightlock/pseuds/NamelesslyNightlock, https://archiveofourown.org/users/STARSdidathing/pseuds/STARSdidathing
Summary: Thor is Asgardian and Loki is Asgardian. The difference? Loki doesn't know how to look after himself and needs to be protected. Tony is ready and willing to assist with this.
Relationships: Loki/Tony Stark
Comments: 82
Kudos: 750





	A Not So Delicate Flower

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rabentochter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rabentochter/gifts).



> For a wonderful woman who deserves some fluff and a surprise gift. You're amazing and we both think the world of you ♥ 
> 
> Enjoy our fill of your prompt :)

Loki was like a flower.

That might sound incredibly sentimental, poetic, and unmanly for someone like Tony, but he just _was_.

He was fair and beautiful and delicate. He might wear layers of armour and have a mind so fast it routinely left Tony spinning, but, when you got down to it, he was... fragile. He needed to be _protected._

When he first showed up and was introduced as Thor’s brother, everyone was shocked at how different they were. After getting to know Loki and hearing the stories about him, they were less surprised at how much Thor did to look out for him.

Loki was never involved in fights and Thor never asked him to spar. Thor told stories of great battles he’d fought while keeping Loki safe from harm.

Loki was the brains, and Thor was the brawn.

And somewhere between meeting Loki and realising how much he _liked_ the mage, Tony started becoming just as ruthlessly protective of him.

The first time he did it was standing up for Loki in an argument. Loki had looked at him strangely, but after a moment’s pause, he had thanked Tony and let him continue.

After that, Loki always accepted his help.

It could be as simple as bringing him a meal or a cup of tea. Once, he even carried Loki bridal style while wearing the suit so he didn’t over-exert himself.

When Loki was on Asgard and came back with his arm in a sling, Tony had given Thor the cold shoulder for a week, and took to helping Loki get in and out of his armour.

It probably wasn’t a surprise that the moment it was healed, Loki wrapped his arms around Tony and kissed him.

And after that, Tony could safely say removing Loki’s clothes was much better when there _wasn’t_ an injury involved.

They grew remarkably close remarkably quickly, even more so than they had before, more than Tony ever had with anyone else. He and Loki matched each other in every possible way, and it wasn’t long before Tony spent every moment away from Loki counting the seconds until they would be together again.

It wasn’t like they couldn’t be apart, they just didn’t _want_ to be– and soon enough, the only times they weren’t found at each other’s side was when Tony was called to battle with the Avengers.

He didn’t particularly _like_ leaving Loki behind, but if he’d been protective of Loki before, he had only grown more so since they had begun sleeping together. Even just the _thought_ of a single mark marring Loki’s porcelain skin was enough to set every part of Tony’s body aflame with rage.

No, it was better this way, and he left Loki standing on the penthouse balcony with only a searing kiss and a promise that he would be careful.

But uh, well. Promising to be careful was always easier said than done, especially when you’re Tony Stark– and especially when the ‘minor disturbance’ down in Central Park turned out to be Doctor fucking Doom and about fifteen hundred Doombots.

And _no,_ that was not an exaggeration, thank you very much.

Whatever. They were the Avengers. They had stopped an alien invasion _and_ had once survived a game of monopoly without a single argument. They were used to overcoming the impossible, and this would be no different.

Well.

Uh. At least, that was what Tony _thought,_ right up until Doom raised his hands and sent out a massive magnetic surge which attracted every piece of metal in the area. Signs and benches tore from concrete, lampposts and statues shuddering and bending dangerously. Mjölnir was torn from Thor’s hand, Steve’s shield went flying, and Tony’s whole _body_ would have been dragged through the air if JARVIS hadn’t forcibly ejected him and then slammed the suit head-first into the ground.

Doom had all their weapons, the Avengers were left very near defenceless, and the cloud of Doombots was so thick Tony could hardly see the surrounding buildings.

They were _losing._

“We need backup,” Thor said– and the fact that the statement had come from _Thor_ , who was even more likely to throw himself into a suicidal situation than Steve, really hammered home just how dire their outlook was.

“Backup from _where,_ exactly?” Natasha hissed. “SHIELD won’t be able to help us, and there’s no one else who could deal with this kind of threat. We’re on our own. What we _need_ is for you to summon some lightning.”

But it almost seemed as if Thor had not even heard her. He turned to where Iron Man’s scarlet legs were sticking straight up out of the crushed patch of grass and said, “JARVIS, summon Loki. Have haste.”

The words hit Tony harder than Mjölnir ever could have– and for a moment, he was sure he must have misheard.

“ _What?”_ he asked. “Thor, no—”

“Loki is our only hope. JARVIS—”

“JARVIS, don’t you _dare—”_

Thor, however, was not waiting. The Doombots were approaching and time was running out.

“LOKI!” Thor shouted, as if the power of his voice was enough to reach Loki when comm-links couldn’t. “Stark is in need of you!”

It shouldn’t have been enough. There was no way it should have been enough unless JARVIS had connected the suit to Loki.

But somehow, Loki appeared with a crack that was loud enough to shake Tony’s bones.

He arrived in full battle dress– the horned helmet, the billowing green cape, and daggers in each hand. He paused just long enough to find Tony and confirm he was alright.

Tony, for his part, wanted to jump in front of Loki and defend him from the approaching robotic swarm– but before he could react, Loki turned to face them like a true warrior, like a true _Avenger_.

Tony’s heart was in his throat, but he didn’t get a chance to cry out because from one breath to the next, his delicate, fair flower became a fucking _venus fly trap._

Tony stood agape as Loki ripped through the first wave of Doombots like tissue paper. He threw his daggers with perfect, lethal accuracy, and the few robots that got close were ripped apart with either Loki’s bare hands or vicious green blazes of magic.

Tony had never seen anything so incredible. Loki’s magic lanced through them like a lightning bolt more versatile and beautiful than anything Thor could conjure.

He _destroyed_ all fifteen hundred without any effort, and presented the Avengers with a tied-up, unconscious Doctor Doom as if he hadn’t just turned Tony’s world upside down.

He even looked _annoyed_.

“Why did you wait so long to summon me?” Loki demanded, his hands balled into fists and his glare so heated Tony thought it was this close to setting Thor on _fire._

Thor, meanwhile, grinned, as if his little, fragile brother turning into an unstoppable killing machine was something that happened on the daily. “On the contrary, it would seem that I summoned you at the perfect moment, brother. You cannot tell me you didn’t have fun—”

“You were surrounded, Anthony could have been hurt—”

“Wait a fucking second,” Tony said, stalking a little closer, unable to keep silent any longer. He ignored Steve’s predictable mutter of _“language”_ and stepped right up into Loki’s space. “Since when have you been able to do, well, _that?”_

“I learned to wield seiðr at quite a young age,” Loki answered, and the smirk flicking up the corner of Loki’s lips – combined with the snigger he heard coming from Thor – had Tony narrowing his eyes.

“Are you telling me,” Tony said, speaking very slowly, “that you have been sitting back while I did everything for you for absolutely no reason at all?”

“I would not say there was _no_ reason,” Loki replied, lifting his shoulders in a shrug. “I did not wish to rob you of your fun.”

Tony spluttered. “I just saw you tear apart an army of Doombots—”

“Yes.”

“You can _lift a car with your bare hands—”_

“Yes.”

“And you let me think that you’re not strong? That you need protecting?”

Loki’s eyes were _dancing_ with amusement now, and the sound that tore from Tony’s throat could only be called a wail.

“You let me _carry you—”_

“Many would consider that an honour,” Loki cut in. “And besides. It is an old tradition on Asgard to carry the one that you love.”

That had Tony making a completely different kind of sound all together, and someone else took the opportunity to jump in.

“Tony,” Thor chuckled. “My brother is a prince of Asgard. You could not have thought him defenceless.”

“To be fair,” said Natasha, her own frown in place. “Loki never even hinted—”

“Oh? And should I have given away my strengths so easily, Agent Romanoff?” Loki asked– and he said it in such a taunting tone that Tony couldn’t help the way his own lips twitched up in response.

“I suppose not,” Natasha grudgingly admitted.

“Who even cares whether Loki can lift cars, anyway?” Clint demanded. “I want to know how long the pair of you have been _fucking.”_

“To be fair,” Tony said, echoing Natasha’s earlier words. “Neither of us said anything about fucking.”

“No,” Loki added– and Tony turned to look at him in surprise as he felt Loki’s fingers entwine with his own. “Because it’s so much more than that.”

And this time, the sound that wanted to come out of Tony was definitely sentimental, not at all manly, and far too _soft_.

Luckily, none of the Avengers seemed to notice, too busy complaining about the two of them in one form or another.

Tony only had eyes for Loki as the mage admitted quietly, “I am glad you are alright, Anthony.”

And although Tony _could_ say something about Loki’s hidden strength, or complain about his secret-keeping, Tony didn’t.

Because, at the end of the day it didn’t change the most important thing—

“I’m glad you’re alright too, Lokes.”


End file.
